NICHOLAS PIERCE MYSTERIES

The first one was CRYSTAL SKULL, my first novel. The sequel to is THE FIFTH ESSENCE. Both are set in the early. 1990s.

Why did a chemistry professor write a text on a medieval practice from the viewpoint of a practitioner? And why would a chemist for a suntan lotion company take such an interest in that
professor and her hobby three and half decades later? Finally, and most important, why did they both vanish and where did they go? That was what Miami Beach private detective Nicholas Pierce was
trying to figure out when he realized that it was no coincidence that two police detectives investigating the case had been found dead.

A private eye would have to be out of his skull to take a case like this...In fact, it all begins with a skull—an ancient crystal artifact that, according to legend, has an identical twin. A local
museum is exhibiting the skull, and now a very generous art patron is anxious to track down its mate. For Florida P.I. Nicholas Pierce, it promises to be a most unusual case. When the museum director
is murdered and the missing skull’s twin is stolen, the case also becomes Pierce’s most dangerous. The list of suspects is short and strange: an aging counterculture psychology professor, an
egocentric billionaire movie producer, and a smart, sexy anthropologist with a penchant for the paranormal. The legend says that whoever possesses th pair of crystal skulls will live forever. The way
things are going, Pierce figures he’ll be lucky to live until tomorrow.